When Reality Sets In
by Romantic By Nature
Summary: What happens when reality tv craze sweeps the Johto nation? Why, the greatest reality tv show is created of course. Johto's Next Top Pokemon Master becomes the most highly anticipated series. With drama, adventure and pokemon it takes the nation by storm.
1. Intro

**Author's Note: Hey everyone, this is my first fanfiction so hopefully you all like it. This is just the intro for the reality show, it'll be explained in more detail later on :)  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon, only my original characters.**

* * *

><p>Goldenrod city, the Hollywood of Jhoto, if you want to be somebody, Goldenrod is the city that will make it happen. Reality tv has grabbed a hold of the nation, not unlike the rest of the world. Networks compete for ratings by trying all kinds of tv shows – some about love, money, sex, or a combination of the three, but none have yet to snatch all the ratings from the other stations.<p>

However, one station, through many secret meetings, came up with the perfect show by mixing the nation's two favorite things – reality tv and pokemon. The result: a nation wide competition to become the nation's top pokemon master.

It starts with 18 teams of 2. They begin with only a starter pokemon from a limited selection, from there they are given a certain amount of time to go from check point to check point. If a team doesn't reach the destination in time, they're out. If all teams make it to the destination on time, the final 4 teams battle. The team that loses is eliminated. However, it's not that simple. They must catch, train and raise their pokemon as well as participate in challenges along the way. Not only do they have to deal with the competition rules, but they must also deal with nature and the other competitors. In the end, the final 6 teams will become the final 12 trainers and from there they must compete in a tournament to see who among them is the true pokemon master.

The catch is, however, the trainers believe that they're only being filmed at checkpoints and during challenges. But what good would the show be without drama? The studio's highly trained team of Murkrow, Farfetch'd, Diglett, Pidgyt, and Spinarak follow the teams to capture what goes on before and after the battles end.


	2. Episode 1 : Prelims

Episode 1 : Prelims

* * *

><p>Leighton's hands trembled as she ripped open the manila envelope. Quickly snatching the letter, her eyes quickly scanned the first paragraph. Her grip tightened on the paper, threatening to tear a hole in it.<p>

"Well…?" her friend asked, leaning forward from the chair.

"We're in, Bonnie!" Leighton squealed, hopping up and down in joy, hugging the piece of paper to her chest.

"No way! No way! No freaking way!" Bonnie exclaimed, snatching the letter and reading it herself.

Leighton couldn't believe it. She had just made it onto the highly anticipated, new reality show: Johto's Next Top Pokemon Master. The blonde-haired girl couldn't believe her luck, she had always wanted to be on tv and she has always wanted to train pokemon, it was a double win for her. She was 19, almost 20 and had recently moved from a small ranch near Route 38 to the big city of Goldenrod with her best friend, Bonnie. Her parents didn't think that she'd be able to make it alone in a big city, they had all placed bets on when she'd return home. This only further motivated the girl to make it on her own.

Flopping onto her bed, she sighed dreamily, imagining all of the adventures she was soon going to experience. A romantic, she pictured traveling through quiet forests with sunlight peeking through the lush canopy creating a magical glow, through dark, but beautiful caves that led to a glorious light at the end of the tunnel and over the seas with the winds whipping through her hair.

Her daydream was ended by Bonnie jumping on top of the girl. Leighton yelped in surprise as Bonnie laughed and rolled off of the girl, lying on the bed next to her instead. Bonnie's brown eyes gleamed with excitement, "What pokemon do you think we'll get to choose from?"

Leighton hadn't even thought of that, and she bit her lip in thought. "Hopefully some cute ones, I really don't want a bug or a scary-looking one," she said with a laugh, shuddering at the thought of having to get a spinarak.

Bonnie shrugged, "I don't care what I get. As long as I get a pokemon I'm happy."

"Always the optimist" Leighton mused, "I guess I'd be fine with any pokemon….. but I'd still prefer a cute one."

A cheeky grin spread across the girl's features as Bonnie grinned and rolled her eyes. "Whatever we get will be perfect, we just gotta make sure we know how to train whatever pokemon we get. We have two weeks before we leave – we'd better study up."

Leighton groaned, the idea of studying for the two weeks before they left did not seem like a fun idea at all.

"Where do we have to go for the start?" Bonnie asked.

Leighton picked up the sheet, quickly reading through the rest of the letter. "It looks like we all meet in New Bark Town. When we get there we will meet with the rest of the teams, receive our pokemon and instructions. It looks like we need to bring changes of clothes for a few months… they're going to give us changes of clothes after each stop. And we need to bring the essentials, of course, but we aren't allowed to have guide books. Oh, - " Leighton looked up to Bonnie, " – we need a team name."

Both girls sat in silence, trying to think of a good name.

Leighton gasped, turning to Bonnie. "Femme Fatale… we will be the dangerous girls the other teams need to watch out for."

Both girls grinned, Team Femme Fatale was about to rock the competition.

* * *

><p>Pierce scanned the massive group of trainers, trying to pick out any immediate threats. His foot tapped anxiously, waiting for the massive doors to the lab to open so they could begin this journey. He sighed impatiently, running his hands through his hair.<p>

Pierce was 20 and tall, standing at 6'1". He was very handsome, with thick, ocean swept blonde hair, brown eyes, and toned physique. He was very popular with the ladies in his home city of Olivine, however, this made him very unpopular with the men so he didn't have very many friends growing up. This never bothered him though, because he only had eyes for one girl, Olivia. She was everything to him, but he was not everything to her. After witnessing her with another man things quickly changed, and he was left shattered and with a strong desire to get out of the city. Therefore, he quickly applied for the show, eager to experience Jhoto.

His best, and only guy friend, Ashton, decided to tag along with Pierce. He was tall, dark and handsome with brown hair, brown eyes, strong body and tanned skin. His pearly white smile was enough to make any girl weak at the knees and he knew it. Confident and flirtatious, he was eyes the lady trainers instead of looking for rivals.

Ashton, finally annoyed by Pierce's anxious foot tapping, turned to his friend. "Seriously, calm down. No need to look so threatened already, just relax and why don't we meet some of the ladies?" he suggested, looking hopefully to his friend.

Pierce's stomach twisted into a knot, he didn't want to think about the opposite gender at all. The hurt that lingered in his expression was plain for Ashton to see, and a sad smile tugged on his lips. "Forget what I said, we are here to win and nothing else," Ashton said, grinning, "Team Lighthouse for the win!"

Pierce rolled his eyes but smiled at his friend, pushing his now ex, Olivia, to the back of his mind. The point of this journey was to get over her and have fun exploring Johto, not be sulky and moody.

Ashton felt bad for blatantly mentioning girls, he knew it was still a tender subject for Pierce, but he was hoping that his friend would get over it soon. As much as he cared for his friend, he still wanted to meet some of the girls. His gaze swept across the room, instantly spotting a group of girls that were crowded around somebody. Leaning a bit, he got a glimpse of the guy and nearly scoffed. "Girls and their obsession with the bad boy," he muttered under his breath.

Across the way was the handsome bad boy. With long dark hair, bright blue eyes, a black v-neck under a black jacket and a dangerous look and attitude, many of the girls were eager to introduce themselves to him. His smirks and casual disinterest seemed to entice them for some reason unknown to Ashton. He didn't like competition with the ladies, and with his friend's sulky attitude they would drive all the girls away. He needed to snap Pierce out of his funk so he could mingle with all the other lady trainers.

Ashton's gaze swept over all of the people again before something struck him as odd. As he looked around again something just didn't add up. If there were only 18 teams of 2 then there should only be 36 people present. However, there were clearly way more than 36. 'But why would they bring in way more than 18 teams..?' he wondered as he looked around before the realization hit him.

"We're gonna have an elimination before the competition even begins," he said quickly, turning to Pierce.

Pierce blinked in confusion before what Ashton said sunk in. "No way…" he groaned as the lab doors swung open.

* * *

><p>An amused smirk was plastered onto Slater's face. He was used to girl's reacting like this around him, but it never ceased to amuse and boost his already inflated ego. He was 23, handsome, and dangerous – an irresistible combo for any girl in Johto.<p>

His bright blue eyes scanned the group of girls around him, and his lack of interest in them did nothing but excite them more. He scanned the crowd for possible targets, and a mess of blonde hair caught his eye.

The girl was standing with her brunette friend. She wasn't too tall, but had long, slender legs. She wasn't overly busty, much to Slater's distaste, but what she lacked up top she made up for with her curvy bottom and gorgeous features. She had green eyes with dark lashes, blonde, wavy hair and plush lips that Slater wanted all over him. A quiver of excitement ran down his spine as scenarios of nasty things those lips could do to him played out in his head. A hungry lust welled up inside of him; he had found his next target.

He could feel his friend's curious gaze on him as he started to wade through the circle of girls around him. Slater could have a rather one-track mind when it came to him and his lustful desires, but his attention was redirected as the lab doors swung open.

Two figures stepped into the room, commanding attention with their quiet, but powerful presence. One was an older man, probably in his late 50s, his gray hair and strong jaw gave him the semblance of wisdom and power. His dark brown eyes were lined with wrinkles, his mouth pulled into a judgmental frown. He made no move to talk as the younger, more lively man stepped forward.

"Welcome trainers," his voice boomed throughout the room, "welcome to the first season of Johto's Next Top Pokemon Master. We're so happy all of you could make it to our first pitstop on our nation-wide journey. I'll be your host, Drew Collins."

He didn't wait for any sort of greeting or applause as he launched into the next part of his introduction, "Now, as many of you may have noticed, there are way more teams here than there will be teams on the show. And if you haven't figured out already, your journey is about to start right now. In order to even make it onto the show, teams will be given two pokemon to compete against the other teams for the first elimination challenge. The top 18 teams will move on and start the real race. Now, if you'd all follow me, let's get this competition underway!"

* * *

><p>Leighton's heart was racing as she exchanged nervous glances with Bonnie. "What're we gonna do?" she asked, working to keep her voice calm.<p>

Bonnie smiled confidently, "We're going to win, duh. We've studied too hard to mess up now. Look at all these other teams, you can tell the ones who came in here with no practice."

Leighton looked around the room, the panicked faces of the other contenders seemed to calm her nerves just a bit. Joining in with the crowd they shuffled into the lab. Once inside a murmur stirred through the front of the crowd and as Bonnie and Leighton neared the front they saw what was causing the stir. In the center of the room was a battle field that met all of the Pokemon League standards, with a raised platform for the battling trainers, attack absorbing field that would regenerate after each fight, and an attack proof barrier that separated the field from the stands. Against the back wall was a large score display, it showed the competitor's names, their current pokemon, and who was in the lead.

"If you would all sit until your team is called," Drew said, motioning towards the stands. As everyone took their seat, Drew made his way to the referee platform. "Now, when your team is called, both members will make their way up to the opposing platforms. At the top you will find two pokeballs – these will not be your starters for the rest of the journey. These are merely common pokemon that will not have advantages over each other. This way we can see who is truly the better trainer without having to deal with possible type advantages and disadvantages. Now, let's begin… the first two teams are –" the board scrolled through the teams, Leighton held her breath in anticipation, " – team Beauty Queen and Team Dream please come on up!"

Leighton had held her breath as the board scrolled through the names and now that she wasn't called she could finally breath, she was so happy she wasn't going first. As two beautiful brunettes stood up next to them, Leighton wished them good luck as they made their way to the platforms. The two girls faced off against a couple who looked to be in their mid-30s, both teams seemed unsure of what to do, looking to Drew for further explanation.

As if on cue, Drew's booming voice sounded over the speakers, "The rules are simple, the team who loses is out. We will announce when a pokemon is down, so don't try to argue with us. These pokemon have been trainer by Professor Elm to listen well to any trainer, so don't get too used to having obedient pokemon, many of you will find that earning your pokemon's respect is part of the challenge," Drew laughed, "Good luck and let's begin!"

Four bursts of light lit up the field as the trainers released the pokemon. The two beauty queens ended up with two pidgey, while the dream team got one rattata and one pidgey.

Bonnie nudged Leighton with her elbow, "See, Lea, this won't be so bad. These are all basic starter pokemon, it'll be a cake walk."

* * *

><p>The battle ended quickly with team Beauty Queen being the first to move on. Slater's eyes darted to the board, wanting to go next to get this waiting game over with. He knew that he'd move onto the next round, lack of confidence was not an issue for him. However, impatience was, and he could hardly stand waiting around for one match. So when his team's name popped up for the next fight, he grinned, he always had the best luck.<p>

Heading down to the platform without waiting for his partner, Addison, who had to jog to catch up to him, he ascended the stairs with ease. Spotting the pokeball waiting for him, he took hold of it eagerly. He could feel the ball vibrate with life as the pokemon inside eagerly waited to be released.

Addison finally caught up to his eager friend, used to this kind of behavior. He took the other ball and looked to Slater, "Ready?"

They both released their temporary pokemon onto the field. Slater smirk in approval as a chittering male Nidoran flashed onto the field, it's ears twitching eagerly, its red eyes darting around the field. Addison had a pidgey, who raked her talons across the dirk impatiently. In response, the other team, Team Ranger, released the two pokemon they had – two rattata.

"Ready… begin!"

"Pidgey, up!" Addison called quickly, the small bird opened up her wings, and with a few steady, strong beats pushed herself into the air. The pokemon glided around the ring to keep herself up without expending too much energy, her quick, keen eyes spotting the other opponents.

The two rattata upon command from their trainers, charged the grounded Nidoran. Sharp teeth bared, they hurled themselves towards Slater's pokemon.

Slater remained calm, and quickly spoke to Addison. "Get your pidgey to kick up whatever dust is on the ground. The rattata will be momentarily hesitant and we can use that time to strike.

Addison nodded and told Pidgey to kick up whatever dust was on the ground.

Nidoran, meanwhile, was instructed to wait until the last moment possible to quickly jump out of the way, that way the rattata wouldn't have time to change course. The chittering pokemon was willing to obey, but at the last moment hesitated before jumping to the side. One of rattata was able to graze the pokemon's left leg.

Nidoran landed, its left leg starting to lightly bleed. It narrowed its eyes in annoyance, darting between the two rattata as they got ready for another charge. Readying itself for a quick getaway, it tried to take as much weight off its left leg as possible.

"Pidgey, now," Addison called, and the small bird shot towards the ground between Nidoran and the charging Rattata. Nearing the ground it pulled back up, throwing its wings out and beating them in rapid succession, kicking all the dirt up and off of the ground.

The rattata were startled and quickly skidded to a stop, blinking the dust out of its eyes.

Slater smirked, "Nidoran, horn attack."

"Pidgey, pick it up and drop it."

Pidgey with her keen eyes spotted the Rattata, not fazed by the dust. She swooped down, talons bared and dug her talons into the pokemon's side. The pokemon squeaked in pain, trying to wriggle out of Pidgey's grasp. Pidgey beat her wings furiously, the extra weight straining her wings. Finally at a decent height, she pulled her talons out of the flailing pokemon who fell to the ground with a thud. Rattata tried to get up, but flopped to the ground, its side bleeding from Pidgey's talons.

Pidgey sunk to the ground, too tired to stay aloft, staying clear of the other Rattata until she conserved some more energy.

As the dust started to settle, Nidoran pin pointed the other Rattata. Tucking its chin in, he started to charge the other pokemon. A trail of blood drops trailed behind him as the pokemon charged straight into Rattata, its horn digging into Rattata's side, right between two of it's ribs.

The mouse pokemon screeched in pain, trying to dislodge Nidoran's horn. But the pink pokemon drove it's horn in deeper, jerking its head back and forth. Specks of blood stained Nidoran's face as it finally pulled its horn out, the mouse pokemon collapsing in defeat.

"Both pokemon are out, Team Ranger is out of the game. I'm sorry, but you'll have to return to the previous room, gather your belongings and leave. Team Slater, congratulations on your victory! You may either return to the stands to watch the rest of the battles, or head through the door with the star over it - there you can relax and wait for the next set of instructions."

Slater smirked as he returned the Nidoran, his ego swelling at his victory. He descended the platform and air of superiority surrounding him as he looked to the stands.

The people talking in hushed tones only confirmed the idea that he had made himself known.

* * *

><p>There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Team Slater was a force to be reckoned with. Leighton shuddered at the thought of having to face off against them, watching the apparent leader of the group as he made his way through the marked door.<p>

Bonnie leaned over to her, "Glad we didn't have to go against them. They're ruthless."

Leighton could do nothing but nod in agreement, casting a glance to the dark haired man. Her gaze didn't linger for long as the board started to sort through the teams again. She couldn't let herself focus on the what if's of the future right now though, she had to pay attention to the matches. She needed to secure her position in the show.

As the matches rolled by, some teams stuck out and some seemed to drag on way too long. The stands had thinned out substantially, only a few more teams were left. As the most recent match ended, the board started to sort through the remaining teams. Leighton froze as her team's name showed up on the screen.

Bonnie turned to Leighton, "Let's do this, Lea."

Her heart raced in a mix of excitement and fear as she stood up. She could feel all of the eyes on her, but chose to ignore them as she made her way to the platform. She wouldn't let nerves get to her.

_'Just breathe… breathe…'_ she thought, trying to steady her breathing as her heart raced. As she neared the stairs to the platform, she watched Bonnie as she gracefully ascended the steps. She needed to remember to ask how Bonnie remained so relaxed during situations like this._ 'Alright, I got this. I studied hard, hopefully I get a pidgey,'_ Leighton thought as she headed up the stairs, finding Bonnie already with pokeball in hand. She smiled at Leighton reassuringly, and it helped the nervous girl relax – her friend was really smart and was good with pokemon back home.

As Leighton grabbed the pokeball, she hoped that she wouldn't be holding her friend back during the journey.

Drew 's voice boomed over the speakers again, "Team Red and Team Femme Fatale… Begin!"

Bonnie and Leighton tossed the pokeballs onto the arena. Bonnie's released a bouncy Sentret while Leighton's released a small Caterpie. "Aww, a Caterpie," she whined, pucking her lips as the bug pokemon inched around the arena.

Two more white flashes lit up the field as the opponent released two chittering female nidoran, their beady little eyes locking onto their opponents.

Without hesitation, Team red ordered the Nidoran to go for Caterpie, wanting to pick off the slower one first. The two blue pokemon charged, and Caterpie tried to inch away from the attack, but move much too slow in comparison to the Nidoran. They were coming up fast, and the only thing Caterpie could think to do was to roll up into a ball.

As they neared the bug pokemon, they were suddenly batted away by a well-aimed swipe from Sentret's tail. The bouncy pokemon didn't wait for the Nidoran to regain composure, it scurried towards one of the startled pokemon and launched itself onto it, raking it with its claws.

While one Nidoran was preoccupied, the other refocused its aim on Caterpie. Leighton tried to remember what she had learned about bug pokemon, she looked to Bonnie, but Bonnie was busy with ordering the Sentret. Leighton cursed quietly, why couldn't she remember a thing about bug pokemon.

As the Nidoran began its charge again, Leighton watched in dismay as her slow Caterpie tried to inch away. When the Nidoran got close, realization finally hit the trainer. "Caterpie, string shot it til it can't move!" she called, hoping and praying it could react in time.

The Caterpie froze for a moment, processing the information. Its mouth started to bubble, as the chemical reaction that allowed the pokemon to create the silky, sticky string started to build up. The string shot out like a bullet from the small bug's mouth, aiming first for the charging pokemon's feet. Snaring the pokemon in its trap, Nidoran nearly tripped as one leg was weighted down with the string.

Shooting again and again, the bug had managed to create a thick shell over the Nidoran's front legs, slowing down the quick pokemon to a dragging crawl.

Leighton nearly jumped for joy, but remembered that the battle wasn't over yet. "Wrap its back legs up so it can't move!"

Caterpie made quick work of the hind legs, and soon the Nidoran couldn't move at all. The string around all of its legs had hardened and no matter how much it tried to free itself, the cast-like string held strong.

"Now tackle it!"

Inching around to take aim at the Nidoran's side, Caterpie lowered its head for the tackle. It inched forward as quickly as it could, and managed to build up enough speed so that when it hit Nidoran, it managed to knock the wind out of the pokemon as it toppled to the ground.

"Nidoran can no longer move, therefore it is out. Team Femme Fatale wins!"

Leighton was so wrapped up in Caterpie's battle that she didn't notice that Bonnie had already won her fight. She grinned at her friend, nearly jumping on the girl as she gave her a hug. "We did it, Bonnie! We're in!"


	3. Episode 2 : New Partners

In the room behind the star-marked door, Pierce and Ashton sat with the rest of the match winners. The room was quiet, only a soft buzz from teams whispering with each other broke the silence. Everyone was scoping out the other teams. It wasn't the best environment for fostering friendships or alliances, not that Pierce cared. He was still in a foul mood over their match.

He and Ashton had simply walked up to the platform. Pierce had still been in a sulky, annoyed mood and it was evident on his face because once the other team saw him they immediately surrendered.

This only put him in a worse mood, and it didn't help that Ashton kept on making jokes about it.

"If you keep scowling like that you're going to scare away the rest of the competition," Ashton joked, grinning as his friend glared at him.

"But seriously, I know you're still hurt and angry over… her… but didn't we join this to get over her? If you keep acting all bitter, you'll never be able to move on. Now put a smile," he baby talked as he pinched at Pierce's cheeks, laughing as his friend swatted away his hands. But he had managed to put a smile back on Pierce's face.

It was refreshing to smile for Pierce. He was glad to have Ashton as a friend, he was the only person who managed to snap Pierce out of his bad moods sometimes.

After the last few teams filed in, Drew and the older man entered the room. Silence swept through the room as all eyes turned to the two men. "Congrats teams on making it onto the show. Now, before we can actually start the competition we must give you all something vital in participating in this show… your starter pokemon."

Excitement rippled through the crowd but they remained quiet as Drew cleared his voice to speak again, "I will call up each team one by one and they will choose a random pokeball. You will all also receive a backpack with trainer necessities – six pokeballs, a sleeping bag, a swiss army knife, bandages, and water and food adequate for leg of the race you're on. Any extra travel needs can be won through challenges or battles, but I'll get into that a little more later. When I call your team's name, please step to the front, you will smile for the camera and choose a pokeball," as Drew spoke, a large, circular table with around fifty pokeballs rose up from the ground. And as the table appeared, so did a few cameramen, carrying the heavy equipment with relative ease.

"First up, Team Pharaoh!"

A man and woman with dark hair and dark eyes stepped forward, giving a small smile to the camera before they each reached out and chose a ball.

"Now release your new teammate for the whole nation to see!"

The two looked to each other, shrugging before releasing the pokemon inside. A loud screech reverberated through the room and everyone visibly cringed as a lively Zubat took to the air, circling around the crowd before choosing to circle around the trainer who held its pokeball. The girl's pokeball revealed a fluffy Mareep, its fur seeming to crackle with electricity as it nervously glanced around at its surroundings.

"Congratulations. Now, return your pokemon to their respective pokeballs and return to your spots."

A few more teams went up and received their pokemon and Pierce's hand danced eagerly against his leg as he waited for his turn to go up. He couldn't decide what pokemon he was hoping to get. 'A Zubat would be a good pokemon to start with, but that Wrangler team got two Geodudes and those are some strong pokemon,' He thought, finally deciding that he wanted a Geodude.

"Team Lighthouse."

Pierce's eyes snapped to the front of the room, it was finally his turn! He followed Ashton to the front of the room. The table still had a ton of pokeballs on it and as Pierce looked over them he kept being drawn to one. It seemed to vibrate with life and power; Pierce grabbed it without a second thought.

He smiled awkwardly as the camera was thrust in his face. Taking a step back away from the camera he looked to Ashton, who had finally chosen a pokeball. On the count of three they both released the pokemon inside.

Ashton had a sturdy looking Tyrogue, whose fists were raised as if it were anticipating a fight. It was a strong starter, agile and powerful, it would definitely have an edge against many of the other pokemon.

As Pierce's pokemon emerged from the light, all the females in the room simultaneously "aww'd". A small, brown Teddiursa shyly looked up to his new trainer with shimmering eyes. With cute little paws and a cute little tail, it was definitely not the pokemon Pierce was expecting to get. He blinked, and it blinked back.

The cameras seemed to step closer to him, and Pierce became acutely aware of their presence. He grinned awkwardly as Drew suddenly appeared beside the two teammates. "Congratulations Team Lighthouse on making it onto the show. Why don't you introduce yourselves to our viewers?"

A microphone was suddenly shoved into Pierce's face, his bewildered expression painted across his features as he cleared his voice. "I'm Pierce Sullivan, from Ollivine."

The camera and mic were then promptly turned to Ashton, who was much more natural in front of the camera. Giving them his best debonair smile, his pearly white teeth sparkling, "I'm Ashton from Ollivine."

Before Ashton could continue speaking, Drew quickly interrupted with another question. "How do you like your starter?"

The cameras, already pointed at Ashton, motioned for him to answer. "I'm glad to get a fighting type like Tyrogue. It's a fast and strong pokemon, a good starter. I'm sure we'll make a good team," he added cheesily, trying to give the waist-high pokemon a friendly pat, but receiving a startled punch to the hip instead.

Pierce laughed as his friend tried to keep his smile intact, and the cameras then pounced on him. "Well, it was certainly a…. surprise. I wasn't expecting to get a pokemon like him, or her," he said, looking down to the small bear pokemon that was staring up at the camera. It definitely knew it was cute because it placed a shy paw up to its face and blinked its eyes, earning yet another 'aww' from the girls in the audience.

* * *

><p>Leighton joined in on the group 'aww' as the blonde trainer received his new Teddiursa. "Bonnie, I hope I get a pokemon as cute as that," she said, nudging her friend playfully.<p>

"I bet you're gonna get a Spinarak just because you're so obsessed with getting a cute pokemon," Bonnie teased, laughing at the visible shudder that ran down Leighton's spine.

"Ugh… I seriously hope not. I'd be too creeped out to use my own pokemon. I'd make you wear down a wild pokemon so I could catch a new starter," Leighton murmured, causing Bonnie to laugh. Leighton was about to add onto her comment when their team name was called.

"Team Femme Fatale."

"Ahh! We're up, Bonnie!" Leighton chirped, standing up so quickly that everyone turned to stare at her. She didn't care though, she was too enthused to even notice as she grabbed Bonnie's wrist before she could protest, nearly dragging her friend through the crowd.

It wasn't until she reached the front that she let go of Bonnie's wrist. Her eyes were glued to the table. Not even the cameras fazed her as she stepped up onto the platform and stepped up to the table. The pokeballs lay scattered on the table, their clean, smooth surfaces gleaming in the fluorescent light. Her green eyes darted from one pokeball to the next, trying to find something that distinguished one from the rest. Which one should she choose? What if she chose a bad one? What if she chose one that didn't like her? Or wore, what if her pokemon was scary? All of the pokeballs seemed to vibrate with life, but one stood out among the rest to Leighton. She found that her gaze continually gravitated to that one ball, it had to be the one. Reaching out, she took hold of the pokeball. This one would be her new partner.

She waited for Bonnie to choose her pokemon, trying not to appear too awkward as the cameras seemed to zoom in on her. She had never been in front of any camera before, trying to smile like all the girls on tv did, not realizing how uncomfortable it was. She felt so… exposed. Looking to Bonnie, Leighton was relieved as her friend finally chose one.

Releasing their pokemon, Leighton squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation. Peeking one eye open, she lit up as a small brown cat pokemon with a gold coin on its forehead appeared. The meowth turned its head towards the blonde haired trainer, its haughty expression mixed with curiosity as it studied its new trainer. Leighton crouched down, grinning at the small cat. It's whiskers twitched in annoyance as it curtly turned its head away, ignoring the trainer as it licked its paw and wiped its gold coin, making sure it shone.

Not wanting to irritate the cat pokemon, Leighton stood up, still aware of the cameras.

The second flash of light revealed a small Mareep, though unlike the one Team Pharaoh chose, this sheep bleeted warmly, its tail wagging like a dog's. Bonnie leaned down to pet the sheep pokemon, but was shocked by the static electricity from its fur. Her brown hair puffed out in all directions, and she pulled her hand back quickly, shaking off the numb sensation in her fingers. Smoothing down her hair, she smiled calmly as the cameras turned to her.

"Well that was shocking," she joked, and Leighton rolled her eyes. Bonnie loved little jokes like that, and no matter who the audience was she would never pass on an opportunity to use them.

Drew asked them for an introduction, and the amused smile on Bonnie's face returned to it's demure smile. "I'm Bonnie from Goldenrod City," she stated warmly.

"And how do you like your starter?"

"It's a great starter, and she seems friendly. I'm sure we will have some electrifyingly good times together!"

Leighton could barely keep herself from shaking her head, it was just too perfectly set up for Bonnie.

"And what about you, miss?" Drew asked, suddenly beside the blonde girl, cameras following him.

Leighton shifted slightly away from the cameras, still not used to them. "Umm… I'm Leighton from Goldenrod City," she said, trying to look cool and collected. An awkward pause followed that was broken when Drew motioned towards the Meowth. "Oh! And I'm sure once we get to know each other a little better we can become friends!"

Drew thanked Team Femme Fatale and prompted them to return to their seats. Returning the pokemon to their pokeballs, the two returned to the crowd. "Bonnie, seriously, how do you stay so calm and put together! During the match and in front of the cameras… I don't get it."

Bonnie shrugged. "I guess I'm just not painfully awkward like you," she teased.

"Yeah, most – wait, heyyy!" Leighton laughed, nudging her friend, "you're such a bully."

* * *

><p>So far the pokemon had been rather disappointing – most had been weak, common place pokemon. There had been a few interesting choices though, like the Tyrogue and the Chikorita, but the rest had thus far failed to impress the opinionated trainer. The only exciting thing that had happened during the starter choosing process was that he learned the team name of his target.<p>

As Team Femme Fatale rejoined the group, Slater watched the blonde girl like a lion would watch it's prey.

"Team Slater."

"About time," Slater growled, brushing past people as he made his way to the front with Addison.

Without hesitating, he quickly snatched up of the pokeballs. Most of the trainers took so damn long to just choose one which he found annoying because there was no way you could tell what was inside each pokeball unless you were a crazy good psychic.

Turning to Addison, who was taking way to long to choose, Slater shot him a glare. Addison immediately chose one.

Releasing the pokemon from the ball, Slater smirked as his pokemon emerged. "Back for round two?" he said amusedly as the ill tempered Nidoran from his prelim battle stared back at him. The rattata bite wound had healed, but left a noticeable scar that somehow managed to make the small, pink pokemon somewhat intimidating. The small pokemon tossed its head its head, its beady eyes darting through the crowd.

Slater smirked as the cameras zoomed up on him, ignoring the volley of questions as he turned to Addison. He wasn't going to answer any corny questions about how he loves his new partner and how well he thought they were going to get along, that time filler fluff could be used on someone else. Addison seemed to get the hint to move along from Slater's glare, and quickly released his pokemon. Out of the flash of light another pink pokemon emerged. Stocky with large ears and two little fangs, Snubbull stared up at its new trainer.

After the grand reveal, Slater turned to head off of the stage. The cameras hounded him, "What's you name? Care to introduce yourself to the viewers?"

Turning for a brief moment, he glared at his partner as Ashton introduced himself. The cameras turned from Ashton to Slater as his friend rushed down to join his friend. "Slater," he said dismissively, they didn't need a whole introduction from him. All of Jhoto would learn his name and power soon enough.

As the team rejoined the crowd, a mocking laugh reached Slater's ears. "So much for trying to look like a bad boy, both of them have stupid pink pokemon."

Pausing for just a moment, he turned his icy blue glare onto the offending team, Team Sky High. A twisted smirk worked its way onto his handsome face, now wouldn't be the time nor the place to teach the some respect, but out in the field there were no rules.

Once the final team had chosen their respective pokemon and returned to the crowd, Drew took center stage.

"Congratulations of receiving your first pokemon, trainers!" he said, applause erupting from the excited crowd.

"Now onto our first leg of the race! Newbark Town is an ideal town for researching pokemon, but we definitely can't expect you to become master trainers from only practicing in one town! Our first leg of the race will take you all down Route 29 to Cherrygrove City. It is an ideal route for beginner trainers, such as yourselves, to start to get a feel for your new pokemon partner and begin forming a relationship."

"When each team exits, you will be given a standard issue magnetic pokeball clip with five pokeballs on them as well as a pokedex. As you all know you may only have six pokemon on you at a time, so remember to pick and choose your teams wisely. Also, you will each receive a backpack with individual necessities that you all brought beforehand. These include your clothes for this leg of the race, sleeping bag, et cetera. Lastly, everyone will be given two potions that you choose to either use on this leg or keep for future use. Any items given to you on any leg of the race can be kept for furute use as well, with very few exceptions."

"Now, you have three days to complete this part of the race. If any team does not make it on time, you will be disqualified. However, if all teams make it on time, then the last four teams will have to battle it out. The one who loses is eliminated. The first team who arrives has the option to battle the gym leader of the town. If you lose, nothing happens, but if you win, you will receive something that will help you have an advantage over the other teams in the next leg of the race."

Taking a deep breath as he finally finished his explanation, Drew beamed at the crowd. "You may all grab you pokeball belt and backpacks and begin! Good luck and I'll see you in three days!"

Shouting and cheering erupted from the crowd as they all raced to be the first ones out. Drew and the camera crew stayed behind until the last team exited.

Turning to the camera, Drew laughed. "Don't worry folks, while the battles at each checkpoint will be fun to watch, battling trainers isn't the only thing when it comes to raising a pokemon team. The majority of it is bonding with your team through practice out in the field, and our team here is dedicated to show you the real experience. So we have trained a ton of specialized pokemon to spy on our contestants. The teams have no idea that they are being filmed while on the road, this way they don't try to hide anything from us. So join us tomorrow to see our teams' first day on their journey to become Jhoto's Next Top Pokemon Master!"

* * *

><p>Leighton swung her backpack over her shoulder, expecting it to be extremely heavy. To her delight it was very light, and she could barely feel it. "Good, I'm not going to be a hunchback by the end of this journey," she said relieved, Bonnie snorting in amusement.<p>

Leighton and Bonnie watched as other teams raced out into the tall grass and trees to start training their pokemon. They, however, decided to figure out a course of action before stampeding into the wild with pokemon they just received.

Leighton had been ready to run into the wild and yell out random commands to her new pokemon, but Bonnie was definitely more level-headed and stopped her friend.

"We definitely shouldn't try to battle and pokemon right now," Bonnie advised. The blank state Leighton gave her forced her to continue, "We haven't formed any sort of understanding or even bond with our pokemon yet. They would have no way of understanding our commands and you have to remember that not everything works out as nicely as it does in your head. Wild pokemon are wild and could injure our pokemon. I say we use today to try to get some sort of understanding between us and our pokemon and then just head to Cherrygrove. It's only a half-day walk, so we could camp out at the end so we can make sure we aren't one of the last four teams."

Leighton suddenly felt very dumb compared to her friend, but she brushed off the feeling quickly, not letting it bother her. Her hand drifted to her pokeball, the show had obviously given the trainers three days so they had the chance to get used to their new partners.

Calling out her new Meowth, the cream colored feline regarded her with its icy blue eyes.

Leighton crouched down so she could be closer to the small feline. It visibly tensed, its claws peeking out from its front paws. "I'm Leighton, you're new partner," she explained happily, glad she was out of the claw's range.

The cat's blue eyes looked the girl over, and sensing no threat retracted its claws. However, Leighton could sense that the cat was quickly growing disinterested. Trying to keep its attention she look intently at the cat. "So are you a boy or a girl?" she asked curiously, not even sure if the Meowth would understand a question like that.

Highly underestimating the pokemon's intelligence, the cat's ears twitched before its icey stare was once again on Leighton. It meowed.

Leighton frowned. She remembered from the multitude of trainer books Bonnie forced her to read that once a trainer became more accustomed to a pokemon and their friendship grew that they'd suddenly be able to understand what their pokemon is trying to say, and vice versa. However, this was a new pokemon and Leighton had no idea what it was trying to explain.

Noticing a boy still standing near one of the distributors, an idea popped in her head. "Girl…?," she said, pointing to herself, "or boy?" She pointed to the boy.

The cat simply stared at her, its eyes narrowed. Leighton waited for it to respond, but the cat soon lost interest and started to clean its paw. At a loss for what to do, Leighton looked over at Bonnie who was reading something on her pokedex.

Copying her friend she pulled out the little red machine. It wasn't much bigger than the palm of her hand, and when it flipped open vertically the screen covered both sides. It whirred to life instantly, the touch screen asking what the trainer wished to do. Pressing the 'Scan Pokemon' button she pointed the blue knob at the top (which she assumed was the scanner) at her Meowth.

The pokemon stared at her curiously, its eyes shining as the blue knob shone with light. The pokedex was quick to recognize the Meowth and a list of options popped up on the screen: Basic Information, Locations, Diet, Dimensions, Habits, Appearance. Pressing the appearance button, the pokedex pulled up a list of information from its typical fur color to eye color and more. Scrolling down to gender differences it listed that the only gender difference was a Meowth's eye color. Blue for boys and typically brown for girls.

"You're a boy!" she exclaimed excitedly, earning her an odd stare from the icey blue-eyed cat.

"Hmm, well now you need a name," she mused, tapping her bottom lip in thought. "How about Tiger… or Whiskers…?"

The cat did not approve of the names, it's ears flattened against his head. Leighton listed off more and more names until one caught the young meowth's ears. "Felix..."

The cat looked up at Leighton as she said Felix, as if liking the sound. Her mind was made up, Felix was her Meowth's new name.

"Felix!" she called, testing to see if he would respond to his new name.

To her chagrin, he made no notion to respond to the name. Losing interest in Leighton, he resorted to cleaning the gold charm on his head. Leighton sighed, getting him to respond to his new name would be obstacle number one in her journey.

* * *

><p>"Luna! I want you to use your claws and attack the Pidgey," Pierce instructed firmly. However, at the mention of his new name, the Teddiursa turned around to face its new trainer, it's little black eyes glistening in confusion as it tilted its head. A sigh escaped Pierce's lips, the only things he knew about his new pokemon were that it was a girl and that she seemed to want to rely on her cuteness instead of fighting.<p>

Pierce imitated claws, curling his fingers and scratching at the air. "Do that!"

Luna copied her trainer hesitantly, lifting her little paws in the air. She flexed his paws, revealing three shining, razor sharp claws. Pierce felt his heart jump, there was hope for him to have a pokemon capable of fighting. "Yes, good job, Luna!" he praised, his pokemon seeming to respond well to the positivity. "Now go like this," he said, using his flexed fingers to scratch the air.

He heard Ashton laugh from across the clearing they were training at and took his eyes off of Luna for a moment to glare at his friend. The two had been lucky to find such a good training area. Route 29 was hilly, and a clearing of flat land was few and far between. A half circle of trees provided shade as the sun passed its half-way point in the sky, and the shade brought forth a few pokemon trying to escape the day's heat. It was a perfect opportunity to train.

Luna seemed to quickly understand what her trainer wanted, and swiped her barred claws through the air.

"Good, good. Now do that-" he repeated the swiping motion for emphasis – "on the pidgey."

It took a few seconds before Pierce could see an understanding in Luna's eyes. The little bear was eager to please her new trainer and walked towards the sunbathing pidgey.

The pidgey squawked as the Teddiursa advanced, its feathers ruffled. Its small beady eyes cautiously watching the clumsy bear. To Pierce's dismay and Ashton's delight, the small bear did as her trainer asked – she brought her claws down and ended up simply poking the pidgey on the head, no force behind his action. The pidgey squawked in indignation, kicking up a small dust cloud from it's rapidly beating wings. It pecked at Luna before going airborne.

The small bear cub squeaked and retreated behind Pierce who was coughing up all the dirt he had inhaled. Ashton's hysteric laughter ringing in his ears, Pierce glared at his friend. "Oh yeah, ha ha, look at Pierce and his silly pokemon," he scoffed, "I bet you're struggling with your pokemon just as much as I am."

He looked down to the bear cub quickly, "Don't worry, you're still new. You're gonna do great," he reassured the small bear, sitting down next to the small cub. Luna was hesitant at first, unsure if Peirce was angry with her. But she eventually sat next to Pierce, who proceeded to absentmindedly scratch behind her ears.

He looked over to see how Ashton was doing, shocked to see the Tyrouge practicing a one-two punch type technique. "Ehh, nice right? I thought he'd like some fighting moves so I taught him that. Now, Tyson, I think I see a Sentret nearby, go get it."

However the Tyrogue needed no prompting, it had already started off towards the sentret before Ashton even gave the order. The Tyrouge quickly approached the Sentret, and without hesitation punched it in the face. The Sentret chattered angrily and swatted at Tyrogue with its tail, managing to block most of the pokemon's punches. Tyrogue attacked with no sense of strategy, punching and punching over again until it landed a more solid hit on the bouncy pokemon. A dull thud could be heard when his fist made contact with the pokemon's tiny, albeit cushioned body.

The Sentret flopped to the ground with a defeated squeak. "Good job, buddy!" Ashton cheered, calling his pokemon over to him. However, Tyrogue didn't really listen to his trainer, and to Ashton and Pierce's horror, continued to punch the defenseless pokemon. The Sentret sqeaked in pain with each punch, trying to crawl away.

"What to I do? What do I do?" Ashton yelled frantically, looking to Pierce desperately. He hadn't taken the time to get the pokemon to understand that it needed to listen to Asthon's commands, and now it was pummeling a tiny Sentret.

Frantically searching for an answer, it struck Pierce suddenly. "Put it back in the pokeball!"

A flash of light quickly engulfed the Tyrogue and it disappeared back into the ball in Ashton's hand. The Sentret was finally unconscious, and lay on the ground, its tail and back leg at awkward angles. Ashton walked over to the pokemon, and being that he was a big softie for animals, he didn't know what to do. "I can't just leave the little guy," he protested when Pierce told him to leave it alone to rest.

Fumbling through his backpack for a minute before realizing that his pokeballs were attached to his belt, he picked up the closest unoccupied one. Enlarging it and then tossing it at the fallen Sentret the small pokemon was bathed in a white light before going inside the ball.

The light in the center of the ball quickly turned to white, informing Ashton that he had successfully captured his first wild pokemon.


	4. Episode 3: The First Elimination

**Chapter 3**

* * *

><p>A frantic look filled Ashton's eyes and he retrieved the pokeball containing his new Sentret. "We gotta go. We gotta get the little guy to the pokemon center right away! C'mon, let's go," he said urgently, holding the pokeball carefully in his hands.<p>

"No, no settle. The Sentret is fine. It certainly took a beating, but it isn't in any life or death situation," Pierce reasoned with his friend.

Ashton heatedly glared at him. "And how would you know that? You can't feel what it's feeling!"

"Well, obviously. But look at the little front button thing. See? If a pokemon is in a critical condition like severely injured, poisioned, paralyzed, the white button there blinks red. Since it's just remaining white, you're new pokemon may be worse for wear at the moment, but it will be fine if it just rests."

"How do you know this?" Ashton asked.

"Ah…. Um well you know that Olivia's parents were trainers and that she –"

"Forget I asked," Ashton quickly interrupted, knowing that bringing up memories of her would be a bad thing. "Well why don't we continue training for a bit," he suggested, not wanting to deal with the ex girlfriend conversation.

Releasing Tyson from the pokeball, the little fighter glanced around at its surroundings, trying to find an opponent. It started to head towards the shade when Ashton called out to it. "Tyson!" he called, but the pokemon continued forward. "Tyson, stop right now," he said forcefully, the pokemon finally stopped and looked at his trainer.

The tyrogue went to take another step forward, but was immediately told to stop. This process happened a few more times until Tyson finally stopped trying to walk away. "Good, now come here."

After a few handmotions the fighting pokemon finally understood and walked over. He may have been a strong pokemon, but Ashton realized that getting the fighter to understand him would be a challenge – Tyson wasn't the smartest cookie. "Tyson, I'm Ashton... you're new trainer and partner," he said slowly, pantomiming until he saw understanding in Tyson's eyes. "If you want to win, you need to listen to me, ok?"

When Tyson finally understood, Ashton gave the pokemon a thumbs up sign, which Tyson mimicked as best he could with this three fingers. Laughing, the pair spent the rest of the day practicing their punching power while Ashton slowly started on working on Tyson understanding him.

Pierce was glad that Luna could understand him for the most part. She had instantly picked up her name and could quickly figure out what Pierce was saying.

But after her last encounter with the Pidgey, she was battle-shy. Pierce spent a good thirty minutes trying to convince her to battle, but was getting no where. He needed to build confidence in her attacking power.

He went back to practicing the scratching motion, and was pleased that the bear cub understood that scratch or claw meant to draw her claws out. However, getting her to understand to use force behind her clawing motion was another struggle. She simply swiped the air, as if she were shooing away a fly.

Searching through his backpack he finally found his pocket knife, and called to Luna. He held the blade between his index and middle finger, like it were a claw. Walking up to the tree, he told Luna he wanted her to scratch like this. Quickly striking the tree, he left a small scratch mark on it.

Luna walked up to the tree, holding her paws together gingerly. "It won't hurt. It'll feel weird, but you'll get used to it," he encouraged, trying not to get irritated with the cub's apprehension.

Finally Luna put some force behind her attack, leaving a small mark on the tree.

"Good job, Luna!" Peirce blurted out in surprise, he wasn't sure if she'd be able to do it.

The crescent moon on Luna's forehead seemed to glow as she beamed up at Pierce happily.

* * *

><p>Slater released the pokeball, the Nidoran looked up at its trainer expectantly. Nidoran were typically hard pokemon to make obedient, their obedience depended on whether or not they respected their trainer. And typically their respect was earned through battles.<p>

Now, Nidoran and Slater had already fought together, and the Nidoran picked up on Slater's ruthless nature. Nidoran tended to be more brutal pokemon. Younger trainers loved them for some reason due to their pretty colors and cute starting form, however they typically were too much for young trainers to handle. They could be violent and turn on their trainers, ignore them completely, or would go too hard in battle and would seriously injure pokemon.

But a ruthless pokemon like Nidoran was a perfect starter for a ruthless trainer like Slater. And the Nidoran could sense this, and had already gained a respect for his new trainer.

"I guess it's time for formal introductions," he mused, crouching down closer to the knee-level height pokemon. "I'm Slater, your master," he indicated towards himself with his thumb. "What do you want to be called?"

Nidoran jerked its head forward, looking up towards its horn. "Well I'm not naming your horny, no matter how funny that'd be. And not spike like every other 10 year old trainer. How about Thorn?"

The pokemon's ears perked, and the wagged in acceptance – liking its new name no matter how corny Slater thought it to be.

His blue eyes flickered over to Addison, who was certainly enjoying his new pokemon. Addison and the snubbull, Rex, were attempting to communicate something but both were struggling. And they looked absolutely ridiculous, waving arms and acting out stuff, it was just annoying.

He scoffed, he had no time for stuff like that. He had to get back at team Sky High for mocking him, he'd make sure they truly regretted pissing him off. Pulling the pokedex out of his jacket pocket he pointed it at Thorn, the advanced device flipping open and whirring to life.

"Nidoran, male. The poison pin pokem –"

"Yeah, yeah" Slater grumbled, pressing the skip button on the "new pokemon information" feature. Apparently each time you pointed the pokedex at a pokemon you haven't seen before, it gives you a brief description. A handy tool for a new trainer, but Slater simply found it annoying.

Looking through the options listen on the touch screen he chose 'General Information', hoping to get some specific info on Thorn.

"Here it is," he murmured, pressing the 'maturity' button. (Unlike the game there are no levels). Two pictures popped up, Nidoran in his current form on the right side, and his evolved form on the left and a line in between them. A red dot about 1/5 of the way through marked Nidoran's current progress. Once the red dot hit the evolved form, the pokemon would evolve.

Slater scrolled down, depending on the maturity level the pokedex listed a few moves that the trainer could start to work on with the pokemon.

"Chhh" with an annoyed scoff Slater snapped the pokedex shut. "Thorn, according to this piece of shit you're apparently not ready to start learning poison sting, much less double kick. What a load of bull," he hissed, Thorn's overly large ears swiveling back in annoyance.

"You know how to kick right?"

The Nidoran let out a cry of indignation, shifting its weight to its front claws and in rapid succession threw his legs back in strong, swift kicks.

Slater smirked. "I thought so."

Now, it was time to get back at Sky High. Bringing his thumb and middlefinger to his mouth he blew a series of shrill whistles. A pidgey with an odd device on its neck flew down to Slater. He knew the decide to be the video camera the show used to film them behind the scenes.

However with the shrill whistle, the pokemon had been instructed to turn off the recording. The small bird pokemon perched on his hand, teasing a few of its feathers with it beak.

"Addison, I'm going to train. I'll meet you back here later, don't follow me."

Not waiting for his friend's response he started walking into the woods, not even his best friend knew of the secret filming the station did.

As he stalked into the shade and away from his partner, Thorn jogging along beside his feet, he brought the little pidgey closer to him. "Where is Team Sky High?"

The small bird cocked its head to the side, processing the question before it tilted its head towards the sky. The pidgey let out a series of musical notes, calling out to the camera birds nearby. It was silent for a few moments, and with each passing moment Slater grew more and more annoyed. The man who had sold the scout pokemon to the station worked for Slater's father. He had promised his father that they were intelligent workers and listen to Slater and wouldn't record any condemning actions that the station could get a hold of.

Finally, another series of tweets could be heard quite a distance off. The bird looked to Slater who nodded.

Flapping its wings it took to the air. It glided effortlessly beneath the branches of the trees, a few wing beats here and there to keep altitude.

Slater ran behind the bird, Nidoran trailing behind him. They ran for about 20 minutes, and Slater wished he hadn't been wearing his jacket.

Sky High had made it quite far along the route, but Slater was determined to stop their progress.

He watched them training, hidden behind a tree. The pair, Evan and Jack, had been given a Spearow and Pidgey, but neither seemed to making much progress with their training yet.

Perfect timing for Slater.

"Think you can handle two measly birds?" he asked the pink pokemon. Thorn glared at him, he had been itching for a fight since Slater had released him.

Slater stepped from behind the tree and started to approach the two. The birds heard him before the boys did, and they squawked in surprise. Jack and Evan whipped around to face Slater.

"Ohh, I thought it was some wild pokemon. It's just that ass with the pink pokemon," Jack said dismissively.

"You're going to wish I was a wild pokemon…"

"What was that?" Evan turned around, "You wanna battle?"

"I'd love to," Slater accepted the invitation darkly. Thorn hopped in front of Slater, his ears twitching in anticipation.

"I'll go first," Jack offered, "Go Spearow!" The ill-tempered bird pecked at its trainer before complying.

"See you haven't gotten on a name basis have ya," Slater mocked, Jack's face turning red in a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

"Shut the fuck up," Jack hissed, "Spearow, up!"

But there was no response, the bird pokemon didn't understand. Giving Slater the time to call in a tackle. Nidoran charged the grounded bird, who glared at the pink pokemon. As Nidoran got to close, Spearow lifted its head, razor sharp beak glinting in the sun.

Spearow struck Nidoran, leaving a decent mark on the pokemon. Nidoran squealed in anger, rising up onto his hind legs. This spooked the spearow, who spread its wings in hopes of flying away.

"Land on its wing," Slater called, Nidoran eager to comply angled itself and let his front legs wall onto Spearow's outstretched wings.

Spearow cried out in pain as Nidoran fell heavily onto its right wing, it thumped to the side. Nidoran jumped off of the wing, still battle ready, but the Spearow didn't get up, curling its wing towards its body in pain.

"Ok, ok! I forfeit!" Jack cried out, returning the pokemon to relieve its pain.

"You ready then?" Slater asked Evan, whose face paled. This man was ruthless, his tasteless battle style beyond violent. But he stepped forward regardless.

"Go, Tian," he called, his pokemon seemed to be a little better trained. "Up!"

This time the pidgey listened, flying up. "Now claw it!"

Slater scoffed, even if he didn't have a plan already, that move wouldn't work. Nidoran's back was littered with spikes. It'd scratch nothing.

He waited for the pidgey to get closer, closer… "Double kick!"

Nidoran shifted its weight and right when pidgey would attack him, kicked the small bird as hard as it could. It contacted with the bird's beak and then head, the small bird landing a few feet away from the dangerous Nidoran.

"Ahh, Tian!" Evan cried in dismay, "Ok, pretty boy, you've one. Now go away, you've proved your point."

Slater smirked, withdrawing Thorn back into the pokeball. "Pretty boy? Well I don't think you're going to find me very pretty after this," he mused, the other boys visibly confused. They were all talk, no bite, Slater knew that. He cracked his knuckles.

* * *

><p>Route 29 was short, it only took about a day's walk to reach Cherrygrove City. The sun was starting to set, painting the sky a swirl of orange and pink, when the pair finally saw the marker for Cherrygrove city.<p>

"Ahh perfect timing~" Bonnie nearly sang, throwing her arms in the air. Belle, her Mareep, mimicked her excitement and bleated. Bonnie and Belle were so similar it was frightening – both never seemed to get upset over anything, and every single thing seemed to excite them for no reason.

"Bonnie, are you sure we shouldn't try to fight some wild pokemon?" Leighton asked, somewhat disappointed that they hadn't been battling hoards of wild pokemon together, back to back like in the movies.

"Next leg of the race, I promise. Most of these trainers rush into things without gaining any sort of relationship with their pokemon, they think that the relationship will grow through battles. But if you hop straight into a battle without some sort of understanding, your pokemon won't understand you and could get injured, making the relationship worse," she explained gently.

Leighton scowled, as annoying as it was, Bonnie was right. Felix was a sassy little nugget, preferring to clean his golden charm and sunbathe than listening to her. She needed to figure out a way to get him to listen, and quick.

The two entered the city, greeted with congratulations from Drew Collins and the crew (they were alerted when each team was arriving). They were the third team back, others having the same idea as Bonnie.

"Are we allowed to go back to Route 29 to train tomorrow?" Leighton asked.

"No, we're very sorry but no. Not in this leg of the race, it would be an unfair advantage to those trainers who chose to stay out through the night and train" he explained.

The two were escorted to the local inn. Cherrygrove was a rather small town, probably a population of about 100. The inn was right next to the pokemon center and pokemart, the local school, supply store, and local restaurants were all relatively closeby.

Leighton's stomach grumbled at the thought of food, and the pair realized they hadn't eaten all day. Once placing their things inside, they released their pokemon and went down to eat (after some seriously pleading with Felix).

It was nearing the end of the final day, and the multiple show producers had called together all of the teams into the town square.

Over the last two days Leighton and Bonnie had worked on building a foundation for their relationship with their pokemon. Bonnie and Belle were like two peas in a pod, as usual, Belle had even started to curl up at the foot of Bonnie's bed.

Felix, however, preferred to steal Leighton's blankets and make himself a bed in the corner near the window much to the blonde's chagrin.

The only progress the pair had made was that now Felix would give her either an annoyed or an indifferent glance when she called his name. He would also unsheathe his claws with a lot of prompting. But hey, progress and progress no matter how little it was.

Out of the 18 teams, 17 had returned well within the time limit. Only one team – Sky High – had yet to return. Leighton wondered if they lost track of time or if something had happened to them.

The team had a little less than an hour to return, once the sun set the time would be up. Leighton tapped her leg impatiently, but she didn't have to wait long.

"And we can see the last team arriving!" Drew announced into the microphone.

Leighton stood on her tip toes to try and get a better look. When the two neared the town though she, and her fellow contestants, gasped.

* * *

><p>They were littered in cuts and bruises. Their clothes had been ripped, bloodstains discoloring the fabric. There was a ripple of concern through the crowd, some rushed forward to help one of the men limp in.<p>

"What happened?" Drew asked, shock evident on his features. It was clear he didn't know how to approach this situation, for the producers were running around frantically, contacting headquarters.

Jack gave a shaky laugh, rubbing his wrists tenderly, hidden underneath his longsleeve were rope burns. "Ohh, you know a freak accident. We were caught unexpected when we were attacked by a flock of angry spearow and fearow," he explained.

Everyone missed the completely terrified glance the Evan sent to Slater. If looks could kill, the pair would have died on the spot from the look Slater was giving them. But it seemed as if Slater's threats had worked, for the two didn't dare mention his name at all.

"Drew, we have to go through elimination process, no exceptions…" a young producer whispered into Drew's ear.

Drew turned to the crowd, "Well a rule's a rule, we can't make exceptions. There will be an elimination round. Once Team Sky High heals their pokemon, everyone should head into the gym where the battles will take place."

Everyone nodded, and went their separate ways. Jack and Evan thanked everyone but chose to go to the pokemon center alone.

Slater and Addison went to go eat.

"Well everyone, that was certainly unexpected. But the world of pokemon is wild and can't be predicted, which is what makes our program so great. Stay tuned for the battles, coming up in just an hour!"

* * *

><p>Pierce and Ashton sat in the stands at the makeshift "gym" where the elimination rounds woud take place.. They had gotten to Cherrygrove earlier in the day and stumbled upon the crew setting up the ring. The pair knew how small the gym was and wanted a good seat to watch the battles, so they came early.<p>

Pierce had finally gotten Luna to land a hit on a wild pokemon. She landed a good hit, too, but as soon as she landed the hit she had scurried back to Peirce. The angered rattata had come for revenge and Pierce had to pick up Luna and get out of the angry mouse's path.

Ashton, on the other hand, had spent the few days getting Tyson to follow simple commands. It was going well, Tyson finally would listen to him, though the more difficult commands were beyond Tyson's comprehension.

He had finally gotten over his fear of using Tyson in battle after some encouragement from Pierce. Though the softie still wouldn't let Tyson finish a battle, instead letting the pokemon run off. He knew that he needed to start teaching Tyson new moves and techniques, but he needed to make sure the Sentret was alright before he could move on with Tyson.

So when they reached Cherrygrove city, Ashton booked it to the pokemon center. Much to his relief, the Sentret was fine, the simple pokecenter checkup was all it needed.

When he released the ferret like pokemon, it cowered from him, understandably. But after a few hours of feeding, brushing, and pampering the Sentret finally seemed more comfortable around its new trainer.

"You know, you never named it," Pierce said, motioning towards the Sentret who was seated in Ashton's lap.

"Hey! It's not an it – ohh, I guess I never figured out if you were a boy or a girl!" he exclaimed, turning the Sentret around to face him, "So are you a girl? Or a boy?"

The Sentret squeaked.

"Umm… ok. Boy?" The sentret was silent. "Girl?" The sentret squeaked, its ears wiggling.

"Hmm how about Sophie?!" he asked excitedly, Sophie squeaked in joy, cuddling up to Ashton.

Ashton was going to spoil that pokemon rotten, Pierce could tell. But that was Ashton, he loved to baby things especially pokemon, and now that he owned his own little ball of fluff it was inevitable.

The other teams finally all entered the stands, and Pierce finally noticed the people sitting next to him: a beautiful blonde girl with striking green eyes and a meowth at her feet, and an equally pretty brunette with a mareep.

"Oh, hello, I love your little Teddiursa," she said warmly to Peirce, smiling. He blinked dumbly until he realized that Luna had crawled into the girl's lap.

"Ohh! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize she had even gotten out of her pokeball!" he said in apology. He actually wasn't sure how she had gotten out.

"No need to apologize, she's such a sweetheart," she cooed to the small bear, who looked up at the girl adoringly, loving the attention she was receiving.

~I knew that bear was a little attention hog~ Pierce though in dismay, a small smile on his lips.

"Besides, I was told that you have to have a strong connection with your pokemon for them to get out of their pokeball on their own free will... it's amazing," she mused. Pierce was shocked, too. A strong connection with Luna? He didn't think they had anything that strong, but he glowed nonetheless in the girl's indirect praise.

She pet the small bears head, which didn't go unnoticed by her Meowth. The feline pokemon stood up and meowed at the girl, wanting an equal amount of attention. The girl laughed and scratched behind the cat's ear. The cat then glared at Luna, and nosed his way onto the girl's lap, claiming his territory. The small bear fled back to Pierce.

"I'm so sorry!"

He laughed, "Don't worry about it, she's a little dramatic. He just didn't like Luna getting more attention it seems."

She was about to say something when Drew cut her off, all of the bottom four teams were here.

Team Young Love, Team Nocturnal, Team Pharaoh and of course Team Sky High all lined up in the center ring.

"I'll explain how this works, so you all should listen up there. There will be three matches. Team Nocturnal will compete again Team Pharaoh, and Team Sky High will compete again Team Young Love. The winner or each match will stay in the competition. However the losing teams go onto a third match. Whoever loses that their match leaves, the winner gets to stay. Simple as that. Well, let's begin!"

The matches went by quickly, everyone was still in the beginning stages of training so it was one pokemon against one pokemon. Pharaoh beat Nocturnal, and Young Love defeated Sky High.

The final battle was quick. Team Sky High's pokemon weren't fully healed, and were still rather scared of battle. They lost quickly and Team Nocturnal stayed in the competition.

Everyone went down to say their goodbyes, and Pierce lost the blonde in the crowd.

"She was hott, eh?" Ashton nudged his friend who shot him a dirty look.

"Shut up, dude… and why are you carrying her?" he asked.

"She's tired, obviously," he stated, not hearing how utterly ridiculous he sounded.

After all the goodbyes were made, Team Sky High left. The first team had been eliminated, and Slater smiled smugly.


End file.
